Astros Pick Up More Ground

One inning, four pitches, three home runs -- that was more than enough for the streaking Houston Astros.

Jeff Kent homered twice and Houston hit three straight homers in the fifth inning Tuesday night at Cincinnati to help the Astros beat the Reds, 8-0, for their fifth straight win and eighth in nine games.

Carlos Beltran, Jeff Bagwell and Lance Berkman hit consecutive home runs for the Astros, who pulled within three games of the NL wild-card lead.

“Good weather,” Kent said about the power surge. “It’s better hitting on the road. Our home park is not a power park. A lot of our hitters like to drive the ball to left-center and center, and those just get chased down for outs in our park.”

Brandon Backe (2-2) gave up three hits over six shutout innings to win for the first time in three career starts.

St. Louis 9, San Diego 3 -- Jim Edmonds homered twice, giving him seven in six games, and the Cardinals beat the Padres at St. Louis.

Woody Williams (10-7) became the fifth member of the Cardinal rotation to reach double figures in victories.

San Francisco 9, Colorado 5 -- Yorvit Torrealba and Marquis Grissom homered, and Ray Durham hit a tiebreaking three-run double at San Francisco to help the Giants move into a virtual tie for the wild-card lead with Chicago by handing the Rockies their eighth straight loss.

Barry Bonds went one for two with a double and remained at 696 career home runs.

Montreal 8, Chicago 0 -- Livan Hernandez (10-12) gave up three hits in eight scoreless innings, and Brad Wilkerson and Maicer Izturis each homered in the Expos’ victory at Montreal.

Montreal’s Tony Batista struck out five times in five at-bats, tying the major league record for most strikeouts in a nine-inning game.

Florida 5, New York 0 -- Josh Beckett (6-8) pitched a six-hitter for his first regular-season shutout and Juan Pierre hit a two-run single at New York to lead the Marlins to their fifth consecutive victory.

The Marlins took advantage of a career-high seven walks by Steve Trachsel (10-12).

Atlanta 5, Philadelphia 3 -- Mike Hampton (11-9) pitched two-hit ball over eight innings and Andruw Jones hit a two-run homer to lead the Braves at Philadelphia.

Eli Marrero went three for four and Julio Franco had two RBIs for the Braves, who went 20-8 this month, marking only their second 20-win August since moving to Atlanta from Milwaukee after the 1965 season.

Milwaukee 4, Pittsburgh 2 -- The Brewers ended a 12-game losing streak and avoided their worst month in franchise history with a victory at Milwaukee.

The Brewers went 6-21 in August, barely avoiding their worst month in franchise history (6-22 by the Seattle Pilots in August 1969). Still, it was their worst month since moving to Milwaukee in 1970, displacing the 6-20 mark from July 2001.